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National Commissions for UNESCO are a powerful lever to promote the national implementation of UNESCO laws and policies. They can provide advice and information to ministries, parliaments and civil society organisations, act as platforms for the exchange of experts from different sectors of society, commission reports, develop policy recommendations and publish their own materials specific to the national context. Through all these (and other) activities, National Commissions for UNESCO can act as strong intermediaries and "translators" between UNESCO and the national sphere. 

Immediately after the adoption of the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in November 2021, the German Commission for UNESCO took on precisely this intermediary role. Since then, the focus and nature of its activities have evolved.

Concurrent with the adoption of the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence by the General Conference, the German Commission for UNESCO commissioned an (published in English and German) on the status quo and the conditions for the implementation of the Recommendation in Germany. The study identified room for improvement and the need for action in various policy areas. In the first year following the adoption of the Recommendation, the German Commission for UNESCO organised workshops and background discussions between experts and policy-makers in precisely these priority policy areas, including on topics such as AI and gender equality/discrimination, the promotion of ethical AI through German research and development cooperation, and a comparison of the parallel AI regulation efforts of UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the European Union.  

An integral part of this first outreach phase was the presentation of the Recommendation and the results of the expert study to the relevant parliamentary committee of the German Bundestag. Until then, the Recommendation had mainly been known to ministries – now parliamentarians were also on board. 

In the second outreach phase, the German Commission for UNESCO focused on developing targeted publications on the Recommendation, with the aim of reaching wider sections of society. The starting point was the itself. Experience has shown that the availability of UNESCO normative instruments in German significantly increases the likelihood of widespread and effective implementation. Secondly, the German Commission for UNESCO, together with the National Commissions for UNESCO of the Netherlands and Slovenia, published a in a simple and comprehensible language for a non-expert audience. The brochure is aimed at diverse stakeholders in German society and calls for action and a critical reflection on AI technologies in key areas of our societies, including health, culture and education and research, in order to promote a conscious and human-centred application of these technologies. Moreover, this brochure has been made available as an open file for free translation and adaptation by all National Commissions for UNESCO worldwide, resulting in at least eight other language versions so far, including Greek, Italian and Lithuanian. In addition, the DUK also participated as a speaker on AI ethics at specialist events to raise awareness of the relevance of the Recommendation. On the one hand, these were events of the German AI sector (from umbrella organisations to start-ups) and, on the other hand, events of sectors that are facing major changes as a result of the recent developments in AI. 

In parallel, collaborative activities with other National Commissions for UNESCO around the world were initiated. In particular, supporting the efforts of various Commissions to publish the above-mentioned brochure in their respective national languages is a good example of leveraging to effectively communicate the work of UNESCO to relevant national stakeholders. The German Commission supported the work and role of other National Commissions in the implementation of the Recommendation with two information-sharing seminars for the staff of the National Commissions for UNESCO on best practices for integrating the goals of the Recommendation into national policy-making. The seminars, co-organised with the National Commissions for UNESCO of Korea and Slovenia, highlighted several ways in which National Commissions for UNESCO can benefit from sharing best practices, as the challenges they face are often similar. 

Since the end of 2023, the German Commission for 91Â鶹¹ú²ú¾«Æ·×ÔÅÄ increased its focus on young people as a relevant target group for the Recommendation. To this end, the German Commission produced a German translation of the , gave lectures at several universities and secondary schools, explained the meaning of the Recommendation for young people as part of a social media series and contributed to an educational video on the ethics of AI. At the same time, the German Commission for 91Â鶹¹ú²ú¾«Æ·×ÔÅÄ started to support the ethical development and use of AI in key UNESCO fields, in particular for the protection and promotion of cultural diversity (as set out in the 2005 Convention as well). A series of workshops on this topic with national and international experts resulted in a for German cultural policy and the cultural and creative industries. It also organised a discussion event on the role of AI in journalism in late 2024 with the National Commissions of Austria and Switzerland. 

The efforts of the German Commission for UNESCO to support UNESCO’s work on ethical AI in Germany and beyond are an example of the great potential of National Commissions in implementing UNESCO's political mandate. They can serve both as intermediaries and "translators" of UNESCO laws and policies to national contexts and stakeholders, and as an international network of like-minded entities, upholding the values of multilateralism and human rights.